(3)Duke Nukem vs (14)Iori Yagami 2002
Results Saturday, July 6th, 2002 Ulti's Analysis Before the days of Milk Nukem and a blowout loss in 2003, Duke Nukem was actually very well-respected on this board. Yes there was the issue of Duke Nukem Forever, but aside from that, Duke Nukem was treated like a well-respected character in the gaming industry. He was given a 3 seed in 2002, as well as a very winnable four pack. His first match was against a character that most people had never heard of, Iori Yagami. More people picked Ryo Hazuki to win the contest than they did Iori Yagami. He was that unknown, and even now, I'll bet that most people still don't know who he is. For those unaware, Iori is a character from the King of Fighters series. The 2002 bracket had an ass-load of fighting game characters, and Iori was one of them. However, this match wasn't even in question, and even if you were a fan of Iori hoping for her to pull out a win, the Terry Bogard/Aya Brea match shot down the theory before this match even begun. If Terry Bogard, mascot of the KOF series could not muster the strength to take down Aya Brea, then how would a lesser KOF character manage to defeat a character that nearly everyone has heard of in Duke Nukem? Sure enough, the match began, and in simple fashion, Duke Nukem found himself cruising home to an easy victory. And because Duke had a rather convincing win (for its time), he looked primed and ready to take down Alucard in round two. After all, Alucard had just come off of a struggle against Tails, a lesser character from a series that was dying well before the contest ever started. Of course, there was the slight possibility that Duke underperformed and that Tails was much stronger than originally thought, but at the time, this theory did not hold much water. If Alucard had to struggle to take down the likes of Tails, then Duke Nukem should be able to wipe the floor with him. Believe it or not, most people felt that the biggest threat to Duke making the Sweet 16 was Tails, and with him out of the way, it seemed like smooth sailing from here. Stats and Analysis Before the Match Other than the issue of Duke Nukem Forever he was a respected character in 2k2. Not only was he expected to win the match, but many people thought he will win the 4-pack as well before bowing out to Cloud. Iori is one of the characters from King of Fighters and since their most popular character, Terry Bogard has already lost; to Aya Brea of all characters anyone who thought Iori might upset wasn't looking that good right now. After the Match In the end Duke Nukem won, it wasn't impressive but it was around at what people expected. There have been three fighting characters already and two of them have lost badly. There were still many fighting characters left in the bracket and as each fighter loses it keeps makes the other fighters look bad. Because of Duke Nukem's performance it looked like he should be able to beat Alucard and make it to the Sweet 16. Duke Nukem's biggest threat was Tails and Alucard already showed that he was a flop and Alucard's performance didn't really turn any heads so winning next round was all, but won. So the board thought at the time. Interesting Facts * This poll was unique in that there was nothing interesting about it. ....or was it? ~_^ • Previous Match • Next Match Category: 2002 Contest Matches